Diaper



4, 1 H. A. PERRY, JR., ETAL 2,897,818

' DIAPER I Filed Jan. 8. 1954 IN VEN TORS HOWARD A. PERRY, JR. GEORGE E. PERRY HARRY GIBSON PERRY ATTORNEY DIAPER Howard A. Perry, Jr., George E. Perry, and Harry G. Perry, Athens, Ga.

Application January 8, 1954, Serial No. 402,934

2 Claims. (Cl. 128-284) This invention relates to diapers for infants and more particularly to a padded, ready-made diaper.

The conventional diapers in use for babies consist of a nitecl States Patent square of cloth which is folded into an oblong, passed between the babies legs and pinned with safety pins at the sides. The necessary dimensions for such oblong is determined by the girth of the baby as the ends of the oblong must overlap at the sides to provide for pinning. The result of this conventional diaper is to provide an excessive amount of material between the legs of the baby, causing discomfort to the baby and preventing normal use of its legs.

Another objectionable feature of the conventional diaper lies in the excessive amount of cloth about the babys waist which is not only unsightly but also interferes with the dressing and undressing of the baby.

An object of our invention is to provide a ready-made diaper which, while presenting a sufficient absorbing pad is of less bulk than the conventional diaper and uses substantially less material without loss of efliciency.

A further object of our invention is to provide a diaper which will permit normal comfortable use of the babys legs.

A further object of our invention is to provide a diaper that reduces to a minimum the bulk of material at the sides and waist of the baby.

A further object of our invention is to provide a diaper of such design that while encompassing the above recited desirable objectives, also makes the most economical use of the cloth of which the diaper is made, and in the making of which a minimum of cutting and stitching is required.

Other and further objects and advantages of our invention will be apparent from the following specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

Fig. 1 shows the completed diaper.

Fig 2 shows a diaper with one outer end and padding layer folded back to show the plies of fabric making up the diaper.

Fig. 3 shows a length of cloth marked off to show how the blanks from which the diaper is made may be out without wasting material.

Fig. 4 shows a length of cloth marked off to show another shape of blank.

The diaper of our invention is made of a shape as seen in Fig. 1. As seen in Fig. 2, the diaper in a preferred embodiment is made up of four layers of cloth, layers 1 and 2 being identical and layers 3 and 4 being identical. More layers or fewer layers may of course be used without departing from the scope of our invention.

The edge of the outer layers 1 and 2 of the diaper is designed to extend across the babys back and forward about his waist to be pinned, or fastened with snaps or other fasteners, to the corner of the diaper at or near the intersection of edges 11 and 12 over the babys hips Patented Aug. 4, 1959 when the diaper is in place. The edges 12 of layers 1 and 2 follow an ogee curve from edge 10 to about mid-length of edge 12 from which point the edges 12 run substantially parallel, to each other and are coincident with edge 13 of layers 3 and 4 of their intersection with edge 11.

The edges 13 of the layers 3 and 4 which are coincident with edges 12 of layers 1 and 2 from their intersection with edge 11.to about mid-length of the diaper, converge to the edge 14 (which lies on edge 10) along an ogee curve complementary to the ogee curve of edge 12 whereby, as seen in Figs. 3 and 4, the blanks for the several layers may be cut economically from a length of cloth. The economy of cutting the blanks lies not only in the fact that no cloth is wasted but also in the fact that two cuts across the web of cloth makes all four blanks required for one complete diaper.

The diaper may be assembled from the blanks in several ways without departing from the scope of our invention. For instance, the blanks may be cut along the dotted line of Fig. 3 to provide each as a separate piece, the blanks 1 and 2 stitched along edges 12 and reversed so that the raw or cut edge of the material will not be exposed to irritate the babys skin. The blanks 3 and 4 may then be placed within the assembled blanks 1 and 2 and the assemblage stitched along edges 10 and 11 and preferably but not necessarily along the edges 13 from edge 14 to mid-length of the diaper.

The blanks of Fig. 3 alternately may be folded along the dotted line of Fig. 3, the edges 12 of blanks 1 and 2 may be stitched and blanks 1 and 2 reversed. Folded blanks 3 and 4 may then be inserted in assembled blanks 1 and 2 and the complete assemblage stitched along edges 10, 11 and 13.

The blanks 1, 3 and 2, 4 of Fig. 4 are designed to be placed one over the other stitched along edges 12, to a point just past the dotted line of Fig. 4. The assemblage may then be reversed to bring blanks 3 and 4 between blanks 1 and 2, the assemblage is then stitched along edge 10 and edges 13 as before. The stitching along edge 11 need not be used in this embodiment.

In use the baby is placed on top of the diaper with edge 14 at the middle of its back. Edge 11 is brought forward between the babys legs and corners 10, 12 are brought forward to overlie and be secured to corners 11, 12 by any suitable securing means.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the present diaper provides coextensive front and rear outer layers which may be provided by the central folding of a single sheet of material or which may be separately formed as two independent sheets stitched together. These layers are generally rectangular having a lower fully rectangular section and an upper section providing extending corners flaring outwardly, the edges of which are curved in a sinusoidal type of curve, specifically an ogee curve. It will also be noted that the liner material is also formed of coextensive sheets of generally rectangular configuration, the lower portions of which are fully rectangular and are mounted for registration with the fully rectangular lower portion of the outer material. The liner material also includes portions whichextend upwardly to provide a narrower strip, the sides of which are curved, the curve being the preferable same ogee curve of the flaring portions of the outer layers. This curvature is also shown as the complement of the curvature of the outer layers so that both cover and liner of the diaper may be formed from a continuous sheet of material by single transverse dividing cuts as indicated in the drawing.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that many modifications and changes can be made in the embodiments of our invention as shown and described above I layers defining a generally rectangular body having, outwardly extending corners along one end edge thereof formed by outwardly directed side edges of ogee curvature, and a liner formed by a plurality of coextensive layers disposed within said outer layers, said liner having a reduced terminal portion disposed at said onev end. edge formed by inwardly directed side edges of ogee curvature, the configuration of the inwardly directed side edges of said liner being complementary to the configuration of the outwardly directed side edges of saidouter layers, said outer layers and said liner layers comprising folded sheets of outer layer and liner layer material respectively.

2. A diaper including coextensive front andrear outer layersdefining a body having a rectangular lower portion and a contiguous upper portion flaring outwardly from the lower portion by the curved continuation of the side edges of the lower portion in ogee curvature, and a liner formed of coextensive layers having lower portions conforming in shape to and registering with, the generally rectangular lower portion, and an upper portion of reduced Width formed by the curved continuation of the side edges of the lower portion in ogee curvature, complemental to the curvature of the upper portion of the body, said outer layers and said liner layer comprising folded sheets of outer layer and liner layer material respectively.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,765,105 Skinner June 17, 1930 2,294,617 Horowitz Sept. 1, 1942 2,476,869 Hughes July 19, 1949 2,530,189 Burke Nov. 14, 1950 2,544,002 Avery Mar. 6, 1951 2,568,305 Slusser Sept. 18, 1951 20 2,827,052 Goodman et a1 Mar. 18, 1958 

